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Reporting Claims | Claims Delegation | Documents
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GENERAL LIABILITY PROGRAM NEWS
Check here regularly for program news and other noteworthy developments.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
General liability coverage includes bodily injury, personal injury, or property damage to a third party resulting from a member activity. The general liability program also provides automobile liability coverage. The CALIFORNIA JPIA contracts with Carl Warren & Company to investigate and respond to all claims.
The CALIFORNIA JPIA handles claims from inception to closing, and monitors the activities of its strategic partners contracted to carry-out these responsibilities. Members need not worry about the details of handling claims, thereby allowing agency staff and resources to instead focus on risk management and preventing the occurrence of claims in the first place.
REPORTING CLAIMS
Overview
If a person wishes to make a claim against your agency, inform the person that it must be filed formally, and with your agency’s office that accepts claims. It is important for all agency representatives to never express opinions regarding, cause, fault or liability. Once a claim form has been filed, your agency’s risk manager or clerk will need to forward the claim to Carl Warren & Company. See the documents section of this page for a cover sheet that is to be used when faxing claims to Carl Warren & Company.
Information necessary to report a general liability claim are:
- Name, address, and telephone number of person sustaining injury or property damage
- Name, address and telephone number of person reporting injury or property damage
- Date the incident occurred
- Time the incident occurred
- Location, including street address, if applicable
- Description of the injuries or property damage; include vehicle information, if applicable
- Description of how the incident occurred
- Name, address and telephone number of any witness
- Name of law enforcement agency, if notified
- Contact information for your agency’s risk manager
- Any other relevant facts, including weather conditions, condition of shoes, clothing, etc.
- If agency equipment contributed to the cause of the injury, make sure it is available so that Carl Warren & Company can inspect it.
Reporting Significant or Critical Incidents
For incidents that involve a fatality, hospitalization of a third party or have the potential to incur a large monetary loss, notify Carl Warren & Company by using a significant incident form by clicking here. You should always report a significant incident as soon as possible, even if you have little information about the facts surrounding the incident. In the case of a significant vehicle accident, always attempt to contact the local law enforcement agency, too.
Claim Correspondence
The above sections explain how to report both routine and significant claims. All supplemental claim information and general claim correspondence should be send to:
Carl Warren & Company
P.O. Box 25180
Santa Ana, CA 92799-5180
Phone: (714) 572-5200, or (800) 572-6900
Fax: (714) 961-8131
Email: publicentityclaims@carlwarren.com
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CLAIMS DELEGATION
The CALIFORNIA JPIA provides members with two options for the handling of liability claims filed against them. These options, explained below, allow a member to either delegate responsibility to a staff member, or delegate the entire process to the Authority, which eliminates the need for the agency’s legislative body to take action or send letters to claimants.
Typical Claim Delegation Procedure
Under a normal claims delegation process, claims are presented to the clerk of the member agency. Carl Warren & Company then reviews each claim for its merits and contacts the member with a requested action based upon the review’s findings. When the determination is made that the claim should be rejected, there are two courses of action, depending upon the claim and prior actions of the legislative body:
- The legislative body of the member agency can take no action. The claim will then be deemed rejected by course of law 45 days after was first presented to the clerk. Under this scenario, the time period in which a lawsuit may be filed is two years from the date of the occurrence; or
- The legislative body may choose to reject the claim at a public meeting, and then send written notice of the rejection. Under this scenario, the time period in which a claimant may file a lawsuit is reduced to six months following the rejection.
Option 1: Staff Member Claims Delegation
As an alternative to the above typical claims delegation procedure, the legislative body may, by resolution, delegate the claims handling responsibility to a member of staff. That staff member then rejects the claim, shortening the time period in which to file a lawsuit to six months.
Option 2: Full Claims Delegation
A second option allows further streamlining of the process, whereby the legislative body may, by resolution, delegate the claims handling responsibility in its entirety to the Authority, allowing the Authority to send notice of the rejection and shortening the time period in which to file a lawsuit to six months.
If your agency would like to utilize either of these two options, please see the information in the documents section of this page. The response form and certified copy of the adopted resolution must be mailed to the attention of Tammie Haller at the CALIFORNIA JPIA.
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DOCUMENTS
California JPIA General Liability Program Summary
Sample Claim Form for Claimants to Complete
Fax Cover Sheet for Sending Claims to Carl Warren & Company
Resolution – Delegate Claims Handling to Staff
Resolution – Delegate Claims Handling to the California JPIA
Delegation of Claims Handling Response Form [ PDF | Word ]
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